4 Beduin killed by stray explosives

Father, son die near Nahal Oz, two shepherds near Kiryat Gat.

By YAAKOV KATZ, YIGAL GRAYEFF
IDf operation 298 (photo credit: AP [file])
IDf operation 298
(photo credit: AP [file])
Four Israelis were killed on Tuesday and one was wounded in two incidents in the South involving Beduin shepherds who mishandled stray ordnance. A father and son were killed in the morning when a dud Kassam rocket they tried salvaging from a field near Kibbutz Nahal Oz exploded. The victims were identified as Salam Ziadin and his 16-year-old son Khalid. Two other people were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and were treated for shock. It was initially thought the two were killed by a rocket that landed next to them and their flock but the IDF later ruled out the possibility by using advanced technology that is capable of detecting Kassam launches. Islamic Jihad attempted to claim responsibility for the incident saying it was a Kassam attack. Earlier in the day, three Kassam rockets were fired at Israel but no one was reported wounded. The army responded by firing artillery barrages at Kassam launch sites in the northern Gaza Strip. Later in the day, two Beduin shepherds were killed and a 16-year-old was moderately wounded when a shell which had been lying in a field close to Beit Kamah, near Kiryat Gat, blew up. Police said the three were probably members of the same family and named one of the dead as 21-year-old Atrash Salem. By press time, the police hadn't provided the name of the second fatality, who was 13, but did say that the wounded person was 16-year-old Falarhan Ashrah. Police said the incident took place in a military firing zone, adding that they believe the shell exploded while the three were handling it. Magen David Adom evacuated the victims to Soroka Hospital but two were dead on arrival, while Ashrah was taken into surgery suffering from shrapnel wounds. In the evening, an unexploded anti-tank rocket was found in Ariel close to a rubbish dump, although at press time, police had no further details. Early on Tuesday, IDF troops shot and killed an armed Palestinian in the village of Al Yamoun near Jenin. The army said the man, a member of Islamic Jihad, was wanted on suspicion of being involved in terror. Soldiers arrested nine other terror suspects during raids throughout the West Bank.